The Value Of Our House Is Dwindling

We got a letter from city taxes stating that our house was estimated €15.000 lower in value compared to last year. On the one hand, that’s good news since that means less property taxes. On the other hand, this is really bad news since our house is worth much less than our original mortgage and still less than the amount left over after all our extra mortgage payments.

So, we paid off 22.66% of our mortgage by now…but that wouldn’t even cover the loss we made! Now my husband and I feel like the estimate is too low but we would still make a huge loss if we sold now. We have no intention of selling our home anytime soon. But this does feel a bit discouraging.

However, we should keep level-headed and keep on paying off that mortgage. It’s the only sane way to go, right?

What’s up with the value of your home?

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

The Anti Rappers Spend It All Song!

Have these rappers gone Mustachian? This is freakin’ awesome! The anti rappers spend it all song. Normally they brag about the amount of money they spent in those songs.

Me like!

What about you?

Love,

Mrs. EconoWiser

 

Making Money In February

I don’t know why it’s happening…but the turnover of my side business has already exceeded that of February last year. January 2013 also exceeded January 2012. I’m liking this!

Though…I can’t really tell where this unexpected increase of turnover comes from. I do feel like products from a new supplier are really popular. These products are high quality and can hardly be distinguished from the same products by popular brands. So instead of focusing on low quality goods I am going to focus on these brand-less high-end goods.

The new cashflow feels great. I keep buying stock every week or two weeks from this new supplier and the goods keep selling really well. This increase meant an extra mortgage payment in January. Let’s see whether I can pull off the same thing this month?!

You haven’t got a side business yet? Get your ass in gear! It’s FUN!

Do you have a side business? What’s up with your turnover?

Love,

Mrs. EconoWiser

More Billionaires Join The Giving Pledge

I read a newspaper article about the fact that more and more billionaires join The Giving Pledge. This organisation was initiated by Bill Gates and he encourages billionaires to pledge to give away at least half of their fortune.

Would you do that if you were a billionaire?

I would!

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

Sale Shopping With A Clear Goal

Today we hit a certain store that sells sports equipment. We knew there would be a huge end of season sale on. The husband ripped his snowboard jacket which is also his regular winter jacket. He needs a proper jacket with him cycling year round and our horrid Dutch weather. This jacket could be transformed to fit all seasons. Unfortunately, we didn’t find another one that would do the same trick. However, we bought him two jackets…a summer and a winter version. We now bought him an extremely waterproof winter jacket at €119 (from €229 Brunotti) which we thought was a good deal. We think it’s worth the “investment”. And we bought an extremely waterproof spring/summer jacket at €41.99 (from €179.99 Wildebeast) which was an even better deal. So for the next two years he’ll be nice and dry every day.

Saving even more money on these items by looking for second-hand stuff didn’t make sense to us. The husband will be wearing these things while biking an hour and a half every day. We’re happy with our purchases. Mr. Money Mustache also buys this type of shit new in big sales, so why shouldn’t we?

Phew, as soon as we found the stuff we aimed to get we got out of that store and onto our bikes. Saturdays are crazy down town!

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

Dutch Behind On Their Mortgage Payments

Today I read a newspaper article about the fact that some of my fellow Dutch(wo)men are behind on their monthly mortgage payments. Right now, about 77.000 cheese lovers are behind.

I have never been behind paying rent or mortgage. This must be an extremely stressful situation. I mean, the thing you pay first is the house you live in, isn’t it?

At one point in my life I did rent out rooms to students for about a year. I lived in this big (cheap!) house alone and I was a student. One of the two girls was always late with her payments. It just annoyed me so much. I couldn’t get around her behaviour. She would go shopping, but would always be at least a week late with her payments.

This experience hasn’t thrown out my dream of being a landlord in the future, by the way.

Have you ever been late with your payments? Would you like to become a landlord?

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

Our Fourth Recession Since 2007

Holland just hit its fourth recession since 2007. I just watched the news and the statistics are:

• Unemployment rate is at 7.5% (it hasn’t been this high since the 80s)
• House prices have dropped 10% in the last year
• Consumer trust hasn’t been this low since the 80s

The husband and I have steady jobs and extra income, so we haven’t “felt” any of these recessions ourselves. I certainly hope (and expect) we can get through this one the same way as the other ones.

What about you and your country?

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

DIY Project

We had two dormers placed on each side of the roof of our house. Dormers are very common in The Netherlands in order to create bedrooms out of the loft space. We now have two extra bedrooms in our loft because of the additions. However, they have created some useless space at the far end of each room because of the oblique part about 60cm before the wall starts. We decided we would like to have those two parts filled up with built-in cupboards to make the best use of the room.

The walls sort of look like this now:

We went about our usual ways when it comes to DIY: hate it, can’t do it, don’t wanna do it…pay somebody else to do this shit. Not very Mustachian, I know. So we asked two contractors to estimate how much a built-in cupboard. The invoices were shocking! They ranged from €2600 to €3600 EACH! Boohooh! However, we didn’t want to become a bunch of complainypantses. Plus, we still wanted the cupboards because these two rooms are hopefully going to be the kids’ rooms in the future and a place to store their stuff would come in handy we guess…

Then my father came up with a great idea. Why don’t we buy Ikea stuff and make it fit? He’ll help us out with the project. I calculated the costs per room and it will come down to as little as €600 each! I already drew up a plan, know which materials we need and we think we have the confidence to tackle our first DIY come Ikea project. Will keep you posted with pictures!

Mustachianism keeps challenging us every single day. Hopefully we won’t be too scared about DIY projects after this one. It should be fairly easy and simple I have been assured…

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

Crazy New Mortgage Laws

Today is the last day of our holiday. I can now tackle red slopes and can make paralel turns when skiing!

Anyways, I read some really disturbing news about new mortgage laws in our beautiful country, The Netherlands. By law one could not borrow more money than a 30-year mortgage loan would allow. The sodding crazies that we elected have now thought of a brilliant new way to stimulate our current housing crisis…they will now allow people to take a 35-year mortgage!!! Guess who initiated the bill…that’s right…THE BANKS! People will never ever own their own homes this way…what a sad story this is indeed. Another added bonus is that the housing prices will remain sky-high which is another benefit for the banks, isn’t it? Greedy bastards.

I am just appalled by this decision. What do you think. Have the Dutch gone mad? What are things like in your country?

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser

Buying 4HB Stuff

Yes, I have been shopping for the 4 Hour Body plan. I am really excited about the book and I would like to give this a go.

I bought a second-hand Bosu ball for €60 which normally retails around €150. I am going to be using this for the 6-minute ab exercises.

I also bought whey protein, since I need to get 30 grams of protein in my system within half an hour of waking. This was on sale from €41.99 to €26.99 and it’s chocolate flavoured!

I am still looking for a second-hand kettlebell of 10-12 kilo, but I haven’t found one yet. Hopefully I’ll find an affordable version soon. I’d like to swing this thing three times a week.

One of the author’s tips is to track whatever you’re doing so you’ll stick to it. I have been tracking my weight for the past week and it works. I have been tracking our expenses for quite a while and that has worked wonders. So I am counting on a lean body a couple of months from now!

Love,

Mrs EconoWiser